The Nine Bestowals (九錫 jiǔxī) were the highest ceremonial honours the emperor could grant to a subject. In the late Han and Three Kingdoms they became a conventional step on the path from powerful minister to king or emperor.
Role in succession
Granting the Nine Bestowals signalled that the court recognised the recipient as pre-eminent. Accepting them implied that the recipient was willing to be elevated above his peers. Cao Cao was offered the Nine Bestowals (and refused them more than once in the Romance) before being enfeoffed as Duke of Wei and later King of Wei. Sima Zhao accepted the Nine Bestowals as part of his elevation to Duke of Jin and King of Jin before his son Sima Yan received the Wei emperor’s abdication and founded the Jin dynasty. The pattern—minister dominates the court, receives the Nine Bestowals and the title of duke or king, then his heir takes the throne—was repeated in the transition from Han to Wei and from Wei to Jin.